It was 2004, and Joe Gibbs Racing was thinking about adding a developmental driver to its roster, someone who eventually might be able to move up and take over one of its Cup cars, and Denny Hamlin was under consideration.
Gibbs and his son J.D. had been observing Hamlin and they liked what they saw.
“I go all the way back to Denny when we first got him,” Gibbs recalled on NASCAR’s website after Hamlin won at Darlington last Sunday, his second straight victory this season.
“Our final test for him before we signed him; J.D., who found him, my son, said let’s put him in a car at Darlington,” Gibbs related. “He’d never been there. Let’s put him in an Xfinity car and see what he does” Hamlin started 27th and raced his way to a top 10 finish.
“He finished eighth,” Gibbs said. “J.D. told me, he said, I think we need to sign this guy. I said I agree.”
In late 2006, Hamlin replaced a struggling Jason Lefler at the Cup level and he hasn’t looked back. With wins at Darlington last week and Martinsville the week before, Hamlin has now won 56 races, more than any driver in the history of JGR.
Hamlin, who is closing in on 45 and is NASCAR’s oldest regularly competing Cup driver, has been through many changes over the years and his ability to adapt has kept him viable where many others would have long since retired.
The NextGen car, introduced in 2022 and very different from anything else NASCAR has ever raced, is the latest example. Hamlin has worked diligently to figure it out and his willingness to pay attention to detail, to be able to tell his crew exactly what he needs to be competitive, gives him an edge over the majority of drivers who rely more on pure physical skill.
Darlington is a perfect example. Hamlin led just 10 of the 297 laps, but he protected his tires throughout the race, crucial at Darlington, which put him in position to win when the opportunity arose.
“We’re all just running so equal, I don’t know how else to say it, but we’re just so close,” Hamlin commented. “It makes it really, really difficult to pass.
“It was very similar to last week (Martinsville, where Hamlin had a dominating car and led 274 laps). We’re all kind of falling off at the same rate through the runs, right?
“We’ve got a two second drop off here, and that’s good, but we’re all dropping off at the same rate because the cars are all so similar,” Hamlin said.
“Once the tires wear out, we pit. That’s where you’ll typically see a huge disparity in speed between the cars,” Hamlin said. “It’s very similar to last week where right when you’re starting to see some comers and goers, everyone kind of pits to save themselves.”
So a driver who can manage his tires, who doesn’t burn them up trying to get the lead, will have an edge at the end of a run which puts him in position to get the best finish possible. And after Kyle Larson’s crash near the end of the race, that driver was Hamlin.
NASCAR NOTES
Three most likely winners at Bristol: 1-Denny Hamlin, 2-Christopher Bell, 3-Kyle Larson. Last year’s winners at Bristol: First race-Hamlin. Second race-Larson. Top five in first race last year: 1-Hamlin, 2-Martin Truex, 3-Brad Keselowski, 4-Alex Bowman, 5-Larson.
Last week’s OGS Darlington picks: 1-Larson, 2-Bubba Wallace, 3-William Byron. Darlington winner: Hamlin. OGS season record: 3-3.
OGS Competition Index top 10: 1-Bell 187 points, 2-Hamlin 180, 3-Byron 146, 4-Larson 104, 5-Josh Berry 77, 6-Wallace 73, 7-Tyler Reddick 67, 8-Bowman 48, 9-Chase Elliott 45, 10-Daniel Suarez 41.
OGS Competition Index top 10 on intermediate tracks: 1-Byron 95, 2-Larson 64,3-Hamlin 63, 4-Berry 53, 5-Bowman 48, 6-Suarez, Wallace 41, 8-Ryan Blaney, Reddick 32, 10-Bell, Ryan Preece 30.
